Schilling, attractive and engaging and making her New York stage debut after earning renown on television, plays the ultra manipulative Natalya, who is married and bored. Dinklage, with extensive stage experience as well as TV fame, is cast as Rakitin, a family friend who harbors unrequited love for Natalya. When Aleksey (Mike Faist), a handsome young tutor comes to instruct Natalya’s son Koyla (Ian Etheridge), Natalya falls for him, and in his youthful innocence Aleksey doesn’t at first realize it.

Complications flare in connection with Vera (Megan West), the young woman who has been brought up by Natalya as her ward. She too falls in love with the tutor, and a sparks fly between the resentful Vera and Natalya. Arkady (Anthony Edwards), Natalya’s husband, initially seems oblivious to all that is going on in the heat of the situation.

How will it all work out? While important, potential resolutions give way to more interest in the character studies and the acting. Dinklage exudes power via his demeanor and strong voice. Schilling has commanding presence, and can be quite droll as she goes about her deviousness with utter seriousness. I’m not sure that she shows sufficient desperation along with the boredom, but we certainly get from her the portrait of a well-fixed but frustrated woman who is attempting to have her way at all times.

The supporting cast is fine, as is the development of the subplots that whirl within the estate. I especially enjoyed the performance by Thomas Jay Ryan as Doctor Shpiegelsky, who has an abundance of whimsical lines commenting on life and his approach to it. Mark Wendland’s set design consists of minimal furnishings against a stage-wide picture background illustrating outdoor fields. Tom Broecker’s costuming captures the era.